Tori's Birthday Party

Tori had her 1st Birthday Party on May 23, 2009.  It was a beautiful day in our backyard, decorated in pink and white streamers, pink balloons, a strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream and pink lemonade.  What a treat to celebrate Tori's first year with so many family and friends!

We got plenty of cake smashing pictures, so that is why there are so many pics for this post- it was too hard to choose!  Tori was a doll that day- well, she looked like a doll in her cute polka dot dress and new pink shoes, but she was so interactive with all the friends who came to see her.  She has definitely turned a corner in her ability to deal with new faces and situations with ease.  The best part of the party was when she was playing the "clapping game" in which she would go in front of one person and clap till they clapped back at her, and then she moved on to someone else..... she was quite the little entertainer!

Swimming like a Fish!

Tori has been enrolled in the Penguin class at the Y for the past 10 weeks.  Tomorrow is the last lesson:-(  But luckily, she has become quite a fan of the water, which is what I was hoping for.  Just in time for summer.

This is Mama and Tori doing "The swimmers in the pool they kick their feet"  She usually claps thru the entire song, as she hasn't figured out kicking  quite yet, but she has gotten better than when we started. Then we get ready to swim underwater!
This is Tori floating on her back with the instructor.  The first 3 weeks of class, Tori would dissolve into tears every time she went to the instructor.  I thought I'd made a terrible mistake having her join swim class.  But she just needed some time to get used to something and someone new.  Now she smiles at the instructor and swims to Mama with no tears!
This is Tori swimming with the help of the noodle....she is even kicking her feet!  Without the float, she kind of crawls underwater- it's really cute!    Well, she's done good- graduated to the next class, Kipper, which we'll take in the Fall hopefully.  And I can't wait to go to the pool with her all summer!

Where has the Time Gone?

Truly, it doesn't feel like a year has passed.  But on the day of Tori's birth, I took some time to reflect.  What was I doing at this time last year?, I kept asking myself, even in the days that followed her birth.  It was only then that I could truly appreciate how FAR my baby has come. From 11 weeks premature weighing 3.1 lbs, that whole summer in the NICU, the constant worry of her getting sick and landing back in the hospital, the special monitors and equipment that became a part of our life, and the constant questions of "Will she be normal?" that no one could really answer.....when I think back on all that, I am amazed.  That we all made it thru those very hard first months, but mostly that her little miraculous body has grown and developed to nothing short of normal.  She's reaching for the stars, and I know she will be able to do anything.

This is Tori's first day of life.  It is hard to imagine her ever being that small- I remember at first I wasn't even allowed to really hold her; the nurses would lay her on a pillow on my lap.  Now she is so heavy it's hard to carry her around as much as she wants me to!

If only someone could have come down to me in these first few days and shown me a snapshot of Tori on her first birthday.  I may not have believed them.  When Tori was so small and every ounce she gained was a struggle, I thought she would never get bigger.  I couldn't see past her small frail body, even as she grew a little bigger each day.

I remember looking at this very dress saying, "She'll never fit into that.  And if she does it won't be at 12 months"  Well, this is Tori, dancing with her Daddy and wearing that very dress weeks before her 1st birthday.

Tori in her isolette- her separation from me was agonizing, but necessary to her survival.  It's frightening to realize that if Tori had been born without the medical care they are capable of now, she would not be here today.  But it is also important for me to reflect on that, because it reminds me what a little miracle she is and how lucky I am to have her as my daughter. 

Happy 1st Birthday!

We had a small family party for Tori on her actual birthday, May 20th.  Cupcakes and a few gifts sounds boring, but not with Tori!  Here is Daddy helping her unwrap her new peapod baby doll.

She loved playing with the teaset Auntie Katrina gave her.  It makes musical notes when you open and close the lid, so she just did that for about 5 minutes.  Grammy Sue helped Tori open some gifts as well! And

Daddy read Tori her new pop-up, touch and feel book about puppies.  Tori loves to read books about puppies, and this one is REALLY fancy!

Tori successfully conquered the birthday cupcake.  I made her white chocolate cupcakes with pink white chocolate cream cheese frosting.....they were divine!  And she ate the whole thing- a girl after my own heart:-)  It was fun to watch her eat it- so tentative at first, and then she was just shoving as much as possible into her mouth.  Quite entertaining!

Crawl-o-rama

This is some video of Tori crawling.  She has become quite an excellent crawler now, and of course gets into everything, and can even get those plug protectors off. (not so good)  She started crawling just before Mother's Day and is pro at it now.  One of her new games is opening and closing the doors to the dog crates, and also getting the dog toys to throw for the pups.  She especially likes to play "Find Mommy" if I go to another room in the house, she'll crawl following the sound of my voice.  I think I took this video on her birthday, at the end of the day (she's doing the sleepy eye rub!)  And you can even hear her talking!  This girl is vocalizing all day long.  She can almost say "dog" and "dada".  It's amazing how she just woke up one morning and figured out how to crawl- we were certain she'd go straight to walking, and skip the crawling bit.  Of course, she is also pulling up to a stand now, which scares me because she's not great at supporting her weight yet.....there have been some spills.  But there will probably be many more to come!

Tori & Mama (A Mother's Day Tribute)

Seeing as how I celebrated my first Mother's Day a few days ago, I thought I would post some of my favorite Mom and Tori pictures from recent photos we had taken.   Our friend took these out in Jacksonville on a crisp, beautiful spring day and they turned out so lovely, I can't wait to share them all.  But I will do so over a few posts, because there are a lot of pictures!  I must say, this first year of motherhood has made me appreciate my own mom and family so much more, has made realize that truly, Love has no boundaries, and has awakened my excitement to continue this journey with Tori, and any other little ones that may come along in the future.

P.S.  Thanks Auntie Katrina for the cute outfit!

March for Babies

YAY!!  We did March for Babies on May 2nd and it was a great success!  Team Tori raised a total of 655$ for March of Dimes (thanks to all who donated!).  It was great to see so many parents and kids out there walking for a great cause.  March of Dimes funds research on discovering the causes and prevention of preterm birth and prematurity, so this is an organization whose research probably helped to save Tori's life.  We were glad to give back in some small way!

This is Team Tori under the finish line of balloons.  We finished in about 1.5 hrs- a 10K isn't as long as it sounds!
Tori kept herself occupied on the walk.  One of the sponsors was giving out balloons and she had fun trying to grab the string.
Most of the time she just slept though.  Nothing like being snuggled in next to Dad for a long walk!
This is Kris with Tori- he not only carried her the whole way, he also had his big video camera.  Impressive......
Here's Mom and Tori at the start of the walk.  It was a grey day, but no rain, thank goodness!
And here's Miss Tori in her Diaper Box Car.... she thought it was great fun, although she is almost too big for this particular model.